Improvement in methods of dressing and making leather water-proof



g UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- OLIVER A. GOOLD, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

IMPROVEMENT lN METHODS OF DRESSING AND MAKING LEATHER WgTER-PRO0F.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 128,873, dated July 9, 1872.

' specifically claim, but merely state that it is one into the composition of which gum shellac or any other similar gum possessing equivalent properties enters. The coloring substances are those which are usually employed for this purpose, such as lamp-black, bone-black, or ivory-black. There has been in use a certain compound for the polishing and dressing of leather which is composed of shellac, spirits, lamp-black, and twenty drops of oil to the gallon of alcohol. (See patent of A. Boudrou, June 11, 1867, No. 65,535.) This composition is like or similar to the one employed by me. This compound has been somewhat extensively employed, but has been found subject to a single objection which nearly or quite destroys its practical usefulness, and, although imparting a superior luster, has been abandoned on account of this objection. This difliculty is that, in time, the polishing substance becomes dry and cracks upon the surface of the leather, and the leatheritself becomes dry and har The purpose of my method is to be able to employ dressings for leather which contain the gum shellac and equivalent gums, and, at the same time, to prevent the cracking and hardening of the leather by reason of the use of the same. With this view I first saturate and soften the leathenwith any oleaginous suba stance, oil, grease, or fat. When this subfore described. This, unlike most other black-.

ings or dressing substances, will impart a polish when applied to leather over grease. The effect of the application of the grease and the dressing substance as I apply them is to keep the leather soft and flexible to form a surface over the grease or oil, thus retaining the oil within the pores of the leather and preventing the absorption of water by the leather. When thedressing material is thus applied the polish is obtained by merely rubbing the surface with a cloth. When the polish is once formed and the substance becomes dry it is unaffected by water, and will not wash off, as is the case with other blacking and dressing compounds.

It is observed that in my method of dressing leather the oleaginous substance is neither compounded with or applied at the same time with the polishing substance, but is first applied for the purpose of rendering the leather soft. The polishing substance is subsequent ly applied with the double purpose of imparting the luster and retaining the oil within the pores of the leather. Y I i This method will be found very useful in the dressing of boots, shoes, harness, &c., inasmuch as it is calculated to withstand the effectsof the weather.

In dressing leather (to which my method is more peculiarly applicable when manufactured into boots and shoes) any oleaginous matter may be used, either animal or vegetable; but the blacking and polishing material, in order to produce the before-mentioned result, must be of the ingredients and very nearly in the proportions following -namely: Alcohol,one gallon; gum shellac, two and one-half pounds; lampblack, one ounce; oil, one-half pint; but as the combination in these materials is purely a mechanical one any spirits may be used which are the equivalent of alcohol upon any gum which is mechanically the equivalent of gum shellac, with any black which is the mechanical equivalent to lamp or bone black, and with any oil. I

In the ingredients named the stated proportions produce the desired result; but, if other analogous materials were used, the proportions must, of course, be varied according to the d ifference existing in them of soluble power, solubility, and power of imparting color.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The method of dressing leather herein describedto wit: By first applying to the surface of the leather any suitable oleaginous substance, and then applying thereupon the dressing material, composed of the ingredients and in the proportions herein described, or their equivalents.

OLIVER A. GOOLD. Witnesses:

WILLIAM HENRY CLIFFORD, D. W. SCRIBNER. 

